CNC Build: The Bed and Breakfast at 4 years and 40,000 miles

[RandyG]

Loved the video, I can watch a cnc work for hours. Your machine is awesome, building one is now bumped up a few spots on my list.

Thanks, Randy. I'm glad you enjoyed the vid. Sometimes I wonder if others think they're as exciting as watching paint dry. See my comments early in this thread about building. It boils down to whether you want to build one or use one. A kit lets you do both. Building a CNC from scratch is a bigger project than a Tear, and more electronic-y. IMHO.

I enjoy it, for some reason or another, while watching I was thinking of the programing, speed of the cnc, ect. I'm not sure if I want to build from scratch or build a kit, as I do enjoy building things unique and to my own specs.

As for the round peg in a square hole, I guess it's a little too late to stop the bit a little short and chisel out the square part huh? Maybe you can add a small inlay to fill it in, but there is nothing wrong with rounding the inserting edges. We all make our own standards for our own builds, my standards may not be as high as others but I can live with em.

[capnTelescope]

The right wall is off the CNC and clamped up to the left wall. Inspection time!

I matched up the walls on one of the roof spar pockets so I could see how well my locating surfaces matched up. I found more work to be done on the left wall. The cutout for the Cabin Cabinet Face Plate needs more work


Also, the Aft Bulkhead cuts don't quite line up. The video shows this *much* better.


The 1/8" discrepancy between the ceiling cuts is there, but there's more potential for harm in trying to fix it than leaving it be. The roof lines match, but the ceiling will be a little off. Some quarter round will fix that, if necessary.

So the verdict is that the left wall gets some more work done to it for the first 2 items. Not bad, considering the Bravo Sierra with the machine acting up.

The video is the inspection taking place as it happened. Please excuse the shaky video. I was paying more attention to the walls than to the camera.

[capnTelescope]

I enjoy it, for some reason or another, while watching I was thinking of the programing, speed of the cnc, ect. ..., as I do enjoy building things unique and to my own specs.

+1 what you said. I've also discovered that the design process gives me that kind of thrill when I'm working the CAD end of things. There you are, designing something that the CNC is going to make, and you can visualize the cutting process, even as you're creating the drawing. Then you get to see it in action.

Speaking of which, I got distracted from the Tear build part of this week, because I discovered the Thien Cyclone Separator and wanted to make one to improve my dust collection. It works!

[capnTelescope]

I've been busy but haven't been posting this last week. First, ADD struck. I got distracted by the prospect of better dust collection, and built a Thien Baffle dust separator. Made on the CNC, of course. My dust collection system still sucks, only in a good way. It's the wooden thingy on top of the blue bucket:


If you need your weekly fix of CNC action, There's video in my build thread over there.

BTW, just as an aside, theirs is a similar but much smaller forum than this one, and it makes one appreciate how convenient to use and well managed TnTTT is. Kudos to all the moderators and admins here, too numerous to mention, that make TnTTT happen.

Meanwhile, speaking of Teardrops...

I was unhappy with my rear end..., on the Teardrop, that is. The more I looked at the profile, the less I liked the back end. The galley just didn't seem to work, either. I spent quite a bit of time at the drawing board trying to come up with a galley that worked, and a rear shape that I thought wasn't so ugly.

Originally, the upper galley cabinets were over the counter, up near the roof and hatch. The space on the counter under the cabinets didn't look useful for much of anything. Finally, by having the cabinets high, they ended up with less volume. They also got in the way of my plan for hinging the hatch.

Before:


After:


After all that, I felt ready to commit to the new shape and galley layout, so I cut some parts. These are parts for the roofline framing and hatch rain gutter:


Rain gutter part 2:


Various attempts to show how this goes together:




If you were really paying attention to the last pic above, you'll notice that I've cut the rear contour into the wall! What follows is the first look we've all had at the side profile-to-be! Woo hooo!




I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get to here. I have got to get the trailer built.

Thanks for stopping by!

[KCStudly]

Big milestone! You should be proud.

[aggie79]

Big milestone! You should be proud.

Fantastic work! And just in time...spring is almost here in Texas.

[capnTelescope]

We had a few days of nice weather this last week in Texas. Warm enough for T-shirts, cool enough to avoid heatstroke. I took advantage of the good weather to do some spring cleaning and work on a couple of yard projects that won't wait for summer. I got the vac bag into the garage attic, since it's done for now. That made some room for assembly. Soon!

While I was getting other stuff done, I managed to get a few things done on the build. I finished the outline routing for the right wall:


Mostly it was just watching glue dry.
While the right wall was on the router, the left wall got the last framing pieces for the galley glued on:


Today was too cold, plus freezing rain, to work in the yard:

But just fine in the shop.

The left wall got back up, and got machined today:


A couple of my framing pieces got put in the wrong place and got cut skinnier than planned, especially the upright for the upper cabinet faceplate. Seems I can't understand my own drawings.

Including (clockwise) holes for water fill, shore power (in) and 12VDC (out):

This picture turned out to be a bit misleading/bewildering when I put the "donut holes" back in place. What happens is that the router cuts out the donut, leaving the "hole" and the hole. I'm sure that cleared things up.

I don't want to finish out the galley until the electrical and plumbing are done. But I don't want a separate cabinet assembly, either. Getting the counter cabinet faceplate in place with the sides & floor assembled gave me one of those "how do I get the boat out of the basement?" moments. My solution is to rout out a pocket that lets me tip the faceplate in, shown here:



Next step is to get the other wall up on the router and do the same thing.

After that, it's mostly table saw work. I want to do a dry assembly next, so I can get my head around the hatch.

Thanks for stopping by!

[KCStudly]

The profile turned out really nice! Worth the effort to fiddle with it until you were happy with it.

[capnTelescope]

The profile turned out really nice! Worth the effort to fiddle with it until you were happy with it.

Thanks, KC. The original profile just didn't look right to me for some reason. The more I looked at it, the less I liked it. I'm definitely happier with this, and it wasn't that big of a change.

Today, I got back after it and CNC'ed the right wall, so it's caught up with the left wall. Made a big pile of sawdust:

I managed to duplicate one of the same framing errors from the first side. I turned that into sawdust and glued a new piece in. That gets cut tomorrow.

Next up is the floor. Time to get the router motor back into its base and get out the tongue and groove bits:


So I can make joints like this:


to hold the 3 floor pieces together (shown with assembly necessities):


Somehow I managed to get all the tongues and grooves in the right places so that all the good sides of the plywood are all on the same side of the floor.

Tomorrow I get to go to the Big Box and get a couple sheets of 3/4 ply for bulkheads & shelves. With that I am going to do a dry assemble so I can figger out my hatch. Things are going to start taking shape!

Thanks for stopping by!

[aggie79]

Sawdust is good. Lots of it are even better. Assembly is priceless.

[AlgoDan]

Looking good Brad, now you can do a Happy Dance on the floor. Things are coming along.

[capnTelescope]

Looking good Brad, now you can do a Happy Dance on the floor. Things are coming along.

Thanks, AlgoDan. Here ya go, Line Dance!

Meanwhile, back at the build...

Tomorrow I get to go to the Big Box and get a couple sheets of 3/4 ply for bulkheads & shelves. With that I am going to do a dry assemble so I can figger out my hatch.

This is going to look like a lot more progress than it actually is, but I did all that except the figgering part.

First, take one wall and the aft bulkhead, add screws and position on the floor:

Obviously, the bulkhead needs a trim on top. got that marked. check.

Add another wall and a few more screws:


I couldn't resist adding a few spars, just for show:


The spars are pressed (hammered) into their pockets, no screws or glue. And... The Fantastic Fan fits!

Galley Left:


Galley right:


All this is held together with gravity and a dozen screws and NO GLUE. Both walls will have to go back up on the CNC, once I'm done figgering. I'm trying to do something like this picture, which the Assistant Tow Vehicle graciously posed for:


This may take a while.

Thanks for stopping by!

[KCStudly]

Dry fit looks really good!

Sealing around the hinge strut? What vehicle is that? Looks like an invitation for a leaky hatch. Just saying. Is it worth the effort just to be different?

(What I am really wanting to ask is, "Are you crazy?", but we already know that you are, and it would be rude to ask, so I won't.)

[capnTelescope]

Dry fit looks really good!

Thanks, KC. I am quite happy with it. The walls squared right up to the bulkhead and ran nice and parallel. Also the spars are a tight fit with the pockets. The structure should be quite strong when glued and screwed. It's nice and stable as it sits now.

What vehicle is that?

The Assistant Tow Vehicle is a VW Passat (Pass at every opportunity).

Sealing around the hinge strut?

Actually, the rubber donut thingy doesn't seal around the strut. It doesn't touch the strut. That would just scratch the pretty paint. It just makes a bigger hill than water can go up. It might also seal against the trunk lid when closed, but I don't know. It's dark in there with the lid closed. The other (easier?) way of doing this would be to put the hinge strut inside the weatherstrip perimeter, Either way, the weatherstrip seals against the hatch skin. I'll be going the second route. If it doesn't work, I'll give up and go with a Hurricane Hinge.

Is it worth the effort just to be different?

Most folks would probably say I'm a little "different" anyway.

...Are you crazy?...

Oh, never mind. You already answered that question.

[capnTelescope]

Today was an R&D day, as I took a first try at my hatch design. It was a successful failure.

I made a mock-up of my design and mounted it on the aft bulkhead. Here's a look at it in the open position:



And closed:


Clear as mud, so far? Let me explain. The hook-shaped piece is the upper end of the leftmost rib of the (pretend) hatch. It's topped with a narrow piece of quarter inch ply, simulating the outer skin. There's a piece of 1x4 lumber up by the bulkhead that represents the roof line going forward. The small black bit in the lower left of the top pic is a piece of the chosen weatherstrip, which seals on the bottom of the ply. If all goes well.
Theoretically. The pieces attached to the top edge of the wall form a gutter for the rain to go away.

Here's a top view when closed:

That's quite a big gap from the front of the hatch to the roof.

It's necessary for the hatch skin to miss the roof when raising the hatch:

I'll be able to close up that gap by extending the roof farther back and shortening the front edge of the hatch skin. It's a radius thing.

The other thing I need to adjust is the fit of the hatch profile to the edge profile. Here, the hatch profile is low:

It should be up there flush with the light colored wood. It does look like it will fit the profile pretty good, once I get it right.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.